<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>What Are You Doing In My Hoard by AndromedaVonQuaia12</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26615344">What Are You Doing In My Hoard</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/AndromedaVonQuaia12/pseuds/AndromedaVonQuaia12'>AndromedaVonQuaia12</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Hermitcraft RPF</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Dragons, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Dragons, Fantasy, First Meetings, M/M, Phoenixes, uhhh what do i tag this as</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-09-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-09-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 05:35:18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,571</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26615344</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/AndromedaVonQuaia12/pseuds/AndromedaVonQuaia12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Tango is a phoenix, and he's about to rebirth. Much like snakes shed their skin, phoenixes shed their feathers, only unlike snakes, they burst into searing hot flames that could fatally wound just about anybody. Tango's gotta find someplace safe to do so, and fast, lest he get on Smokey the Bear's hit list. Only the place he finds is not as safe as it seems.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>impulseSV &amp; Tango Tek (Video Blogging RPF), impulseSV/Tango Tek (Video Blogging RPF)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>96</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>What Are You Doing In My Hoard</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Tango nearly trips over a rock as he stumbles about the forest. It's a slow go, His skin is all ashy and the flame on his head is almost out. He’s desperately searching for somewhere to rebirth without making Smokey the Bear’s job harder than it has to be. He fumbles up the shallow mountainside, hoping for a clearing at least, even though he knows that’s usually not enough. Smokey’s gonna have his butt this month, it seems.</p><p>But as luck will have it, the rock sends him face first into the opening of a cave. The entrance leans down a little, like a deer-sized rabbit hole, and he crawls into it, dirt catching in his feathers. The space isn’t quite enough for him, lest he explode flame out the entrance like a geyser, so he scoots further into the cavern and spots something up ahead, a glimmer, something reflecting the dying flame on his head and the sunbeams he’s not-so-graciously blocking.</p><p>He inches into the cavern and finds an utter <em> jackpot </em> of jewels, gold, and crystals. It piques his interest, sure, but he burns <em> hot </em>, he's afraid he might melt something, and melted gold isn't quite as valuable as the intricate, sculpted pieces that lay tossed about in front of him. That is to say, he's totally not gonna steal someone's gold, but like... finders keepers, right? The pile is humongous, at least twice his height and nearly filling the entire cavern. He makes the decision to snag some smaller jewels when he's fresh and strong again. With a pile this big, only the most obsessed would be able to notice their absence.</p><p>He paces around the ginormous pile and discovers a couple corridors around the back, one of them not very deep, just enough space for a person to curl up in. The other one leads further than he can see, and he wants to explore it, but suddenly the room gets five degrees colder and he knows he's about to change. It's like a backdraft, a tsunami, the breath before the destruction, and he trips backward into the shallower crevice. There's no pain when it happens, but it always happens the same way: the sudden cold, the collapse, the blackout. Honestly, It's <em> exhausting </em>. He crumples into the corner, the heat inside him growing like the expansion of the sun, and he passes out.</p><p> </p><p>---</p><p> </p><p>He wakes up disoriented and incredibly weak, as per usual. He's in a half inch pile of ashes and his eyes trail the scorch marks stretching along the cavern floor, right up to the edge of the pile, just out of reach of the gold. He continues up and realizes there's an element he didn't anticipate: or rather, something he did have <em> time </em> to anticipate: There is a very angry creature sitting on top if the gold pile that most definitely was not there before. Tango doesn't have enough strength to get up, hell, it usually takes him quite a bit to even get strong enough to move, so hopefully whatever is here is nice.</p><p>Given by the sight of it, though, Tango figures he’s not so lucky. The beast clearly knew he was here, what with the stance it's taken on top of the pile. Its wings are splayed out like a vulture, creating a large silhouette surely meant to intimidate him. It snuffles a growl, and Tango feels himself start to shake with adrenaline. He musters all his strength to curl himself into a ball, hiding his vitals and whatever embarrassing bits could be out in the open. Hes got enough dignity to do that, at least - to anyone who isn’t familiar with phoenixes, sitting naked in a pile of ashes that used to be your clothes and feathers is <em> definitely </em> weird. Especially when that phoenix accidentally stumbles into your home, bursts into flames, and promptly passes out. Maybe Tango shouldn't have left home, after all.</p><p>The beast snaps its gaze away from the cavern entrance and back toward Tango. It stretches out its wings and pinches them behind its back like a monstrous butterfly, snorting smoke and growling. It picks itself up, rearing into its full size, wingtips brushing the ceiling and a glow forming in its neck. This is when Tango realizes that this is not just any beast, and this is not just any pile of gold; This is a dragon hoard, and he just trespassed on a dragon’s territory. And that dragon was incredibly pissed off at him. It descends down its pile toward him, nostrils flaring with smoke and wings spread out, sizing him up. If Tango could smack himself, he would. Of <em> course </em> this was a dragon hoard, how did he not realize!? If you looked at even the first book about dragons you could find, “a cavern filled with gold” would be the <em> first </em> thing on the list. He would've rather faced the wrath of fire chief Smokey than lie in the path of a royally pissed off dragon, in his most vulnerable state no less!</p><p>The dragon was fully off the pile, now. Its claws sat upon the scorch marks he left, various pots and jewels tumbling to the ground as its long tail drags upon the pile. The dragon leans down close, right in Tango’s face, and the heat coming off its breath would be unbearable if he were just a human. It demands, voice doubled and deep, "What. Are you doing. In my hoard.”</p><p>Tango tries to get the words out, but all that comes out is a weak cry and incredibly hoarse voice. It's not good for him to talk this soon after changing, but that's kind of hard to explain when you can't move, can't speak, and are shaking with fear that even your pride can’t hide.</p><p>The dragon just lifts an eyebrow at him, glow starting to fade in its throat, and Tango sees - was that <em> concern </em> in its eyes?</p><p>He goes again for his words. His voice is rougher than the scales on the large, digitigrade legs in front of him, which is saying something, because he has a rough voice on a normal day. "I needed a safe place to rebirth. I didn't even have time to touch anything before I burst into flames."</p><p>The rage leaves the dragon's face, replaced with a new emotion: confusion, and <em> definitely </em> a little concern. Its voice is much lighter now, like a human’s, filled with a brightness Tango doesn’t know how to explain. "Burst into flames? Is that safe?"</p><p>He shrugs with the shoulder facing the ceiling, wingtips further spreading the ash around him. "It is when you're a phoenix, yeah. Not exactly safe in the middle of a forest, though."</p><p>"Oh." The dragon blinks at him. It seems to consider his words for a moment, before scrunching its eyebrows back down in a mad contemplation. "So you weren't gonna touch my stuff?"</p><p>Tango thinks about how he was definitely going to steal some stuff. Tango lies through his teeth. "....No." Or at least, he <em> was </em> gonna steal something, but knowing that this is a dragon hoard? Yeah, he’d rather nosedive into the ocean.</p><p>The dragon then straightens back up before plopping into a sitting position next to Tango's still-kinda-limp body. "Well then, you're all cool with me. My name's Impulse, nice to meet you." He offers out a hand for Tango to shake.</p><p>"Uh... I'm kinda too weak to lift my arms right now, so if you want you can just grab my hand and shake it..?"</p><p> Impulse does just that, and Tango feels the awkwardness seep into his bones. "Uh, okay. Sure. Whats your name?"</p><p>"Right! I’m Tango, and I’m kinda not supposed to use my voice, or my body, or anything for a while, but uh... You wouldn't happen to have any spare clothes in that hoard, would you? Rebirthing is kinda not good for fabric. It kinda goes <em> kapush </em> in all the flames." He emphasizes his words with a hand flourish, though he’s sure it looks rather pathetic.</p><p>"Oh!" Tango watches the flush cross Impulse's face as he immediately adverts his eyes from him. "I-I uh, I have a blanket? Would that-uh-I'm... I'm gonna go get the blanket." Impulse swiftly trudges away to somewhere amongst the pile, gold and gemstones clinking as he rummages around his hoard. </p><p>He comes back and promptly drapes it over Tangos body, and Tango feels his heart skip a beat, which is stupid, because he hasn’t exactly left a good impression on this guy. And yet, as soon as he found out he wasn’t here to steal, he’s been incredibly hospitable. Interesting. </p><p>Tango finds he’s got a million things on his tongue, but what leaves his tired mouth is: "Sorry about the ash."  </p><p>Impulse just laughs in response, and its hearty and joyful, with a round sense of wonder that his voice seems to have naturally. At least, when he’s not about to set someone ablaze for trespassing. "A little ash is nothing. In case you couldn't tell, I’m a dragon, ash is kind of my thing.”</p><p>Tango finds himself smiling despite himself, already drifting back to sleep under the warmth of the blanket. "Well it looks like we've got something in common, then."</p><p>And Tango can’t see him anymore, eyelids just as heavy as his newly-rebirthed body, but he hears Impulse chuckle, sat down beside him. "Yeah, I guess we do."</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>so this is the same fantasy au that "can i pet your dog?" is in and ive been thinkin bout team ZIT thanks to my friend and decked out and i FINALLY came up with something about how they meet. Its really hard to make team ZIT start out because they've been friends for so long and you can really feel it in their content so its hard to think of something that like, works. this is just a tiny lil blurb that i wrote last night instead of sleeping but i fixed it up so i could post it. might do that with some of my other blurbs. i have quite a few. ALSO YES THE TITLE IS A SHREK REFERENCE I COULDNT THINK OF ANYTHIGN ELSE</p></blockquote></div></div>
</body>
</html>